Best Point of Sale Software for Garden Centers
Attention, garden center owners! Are you tired of handling inventory, customer management, purchase orders, marketing, and sales reporting by yourself? You may already be aware that the best way to consolidate these responsibilities is by implementing a garden point of sale system. But, with so many options on the market, it can be difficult to pinpoint the best point of sale software for your garden center.
So, let us help! We’ve put together a comprehensive list of the top five garden point of sale software options, complete with pros, cons, and pricing. Read on to find the best fit for your small business.
Best Overall for Garden Centers: Comcash
Comcash is a cloud-based POS system that includes a touchscreen computer, printer, scanner, cash drawer, payment terminal, and also supports weighted items with an integrated scale. They offer a mobile POS system as well, allowing you to adjust your checkout process to the state of your store.
Comcash also touts its own omnichannel shopping experience for your customers through its Comcash webstore application. This application also enables you to track customer contact information and buying behavior to ramp up your outbound marketing efforts.
Last but not least, CRM and customer loyalty are included in this POS solution, designed to help you track and increase your customer lifetime value and average order value.
Best For Industry-Specific Features: POS Nation
POS Nation offers a top-notch point of sale solution for garden centers. In addition to standard features such as real-time inventory control, e-commerce, in-depth metrics, sales and financial reporting, and custom hotkeys, this POS software touts some advanced out-of-the-box offerings.
For example, the software tracks quotes, due dates, hardware serial numbers, service history, and more.
POS Nation also offers weather-resistant barcodes. If you’re tired of outdoor plant barcodes faded due to excessive sun or rain, these barcodes are a great solution. Last but not least, this solution includes a custom tree tag module. Garden center owners frequently struggle to find barcodes to fit larger plants or trees, but this module will allow you to design and create tags to fit products of any size.
POS Nation is one of the pricier options on this list, with a starting monthly fee of $149. However, with all the garden-specific features you’ll be getting, we count this POS as a bang for your buck.
Best for One-Time Payment: ACE Retail Hardware
ACE Retail Hardware prides itself on being no-frills, full-feature POS and inventory management software designed for garden centers. This software intended for Windows users includes a full suite of POS software features: Built-in inventory, tag and label printing, marketing, customer loyalty programs, and purchase management.
ACE Retail may not offer the additional fancy features that other entries on this list do, but it’s a great option for garden center owners who want to make a one-time payment, as opposed to the monthly fees levied by other options.
Ace Pro and Ace Premium charge $675 and $1175, respectively, for unlimited use of their products. Keep in mind, however, that if you’re interested in launching your own webstore, Ace Retail Hardware does charge monthly fees for its e-commerce module.
Best for Your Budget: Square
This uber-popular POS is a great option for any small retailer operating on a budget. AIthough it’s important to note that Square isn’t a garden-specific POS, like other entries on this list, its low price and point and comprehensive features merit a shoutout.
For free, Square offers a mobile and counter POS system, inventory management, e-commerce options, and invoicing capability. For $60 a month, you can add features like a customer loyalty program, employee management and payroll.
Best for Ease of Use: Rapid Garden POS
This POS is designed specifically for garden centers, and is noted for its simple and intuitive set-up. It offers multiple basic POS features, such as customer loyalty programs, inventory management, marketing, sales reports, and labeling. Like POS Nation, it also offers unique, garden-specific features, such as business management for landscaping services, and barcodes in multiple formats (labels, tree tags, planter spikes).
Unfortunately, Rapid Garden POS’ website doesn’t state a price point upfront, instead offering free demo and quote options. However, online source SelectHub cites this solution’s cost to be at the pricier end of the spectrum, starting at $8,000.
Best Point of Sale Software for Your Garden Center
Now that you have a good idea of what’s out there, you have to make a difficult decision: Which of these solutions is the best point of sale software for YOU?
Every entry on this list is a strong contender for your business. Ultimately, though, if you’re looking for an option that offers both specificity and breadth, one POS software stands out for your garden center — and that’s Comcash.
Schedule your software demo with Comcash today to see how our solution can make a difference!